What Is the Google Knowledge Graph and How it Works

Google is getting smarter day after day to improve user experiences across all the touchpoints. Be it accurate text-based search results to rich-snippets, carousel results, and the ‘People Also Ask’ section, Google never steps back from experimenting with things. 

One such interesting feature of Google which is quite popular and always remains in talks is the Google Knowledge Graph. This giant window showcases all the notable information in brief about a person, place, or any other important entity. 

If you are new to SEO and want to explore what exactly is a Google Knowledge Graph & how it works, we have got you covered. 

What is Google Knowledge Graph

Launched in 2012, the Knowledge Graph or the Knowledge Base is just like any other information-rich result format of Google that displays useful content related to the user’s queries. It collects and shows related information from various multiple sources. The data could be related to a person, a popular place, a book, or an event.

You can observe the Knowledge Graph appearing on the right side of the screen (in the case of the desktop version). To give you a better perspective, if you search for a popular actor like Tom Cruise, the Knowledge Graph will return all the necessary information related to him. 

For example, his profession right below his name, a brief introduction about him fetched from a trusted and genuine source, his social media handles (if there are any). Along with all these details, if you are searching for a person, the Knowledge Graph will also show some personal information which can include age, height, spouse(s), children, and more. 

If some upcoming project is linked to that person it may be a movie or a show, then it will also be shown in the Knowledge Graph. Along with the information you asked for, Google also presents you with some other suggestions that are searched by people. These suggestions come under the main result by the title of ‘People also search for’. 

The best part about these advanced results is that people also get to know about any interconnected information available regarding that person, place, or event. As per Google, Knowledge Graphs are useful as — They’re designed to help you quickly understand more about a particular subject by surfacing key facts and to make it easier to explore a topic in more depth.

Also, Read: Core Web Vital: The Next Big Things In SEO

How these panels are generated by Google

These smart panels are generated and updated automatically and Google has almost 500 billion facts regarding five billion entities in Google Knowledge Graph’s database. The results are been fetched by the automated algorithms of Google and many SEO experts believe that it’s quite a different algorithm as compared to other improvement algorithms. Below are some information formats that are shown in this type of result:

• Short summary of the search query with title
• A brief but description content about that entity
• Single or multiple pictures of the person, place, or the event
• Key and popular facts about the search element
• Social media profiles if the person has any

Along with all these things, Google also shows a tab of ‘people also search for’ where we can see entities related to the above result. Along with this, you will also notice some special information about a person like their popular quotes, books, or songs. These entries are common if someone is searching for a popular artist.

Sources of the information presented in the Knowledge Graph

There are several sources from where Google collects the information for their Knowledge Graphs. According to the company, they collect information from licensed databases and web sources. You will find most of the time that the information is from Wikipedia pages because this site has the higher authority and information availability. 

Regarding the medical and health-related content that arrives in the Knowledge Graph, Google has once made a special statement. Over this kind of important information piece, Google closely works with medical associates to get vetted content. 

If the content is regarding some popular events in which frequent changes are observed, then Google bots crawl the verified database with higher frequency to maintain relevance. 

There are multiple Knowledge Graphs also

When this feature was announced by Google, it was initially designed for the desktop version and as more people arrived on mobile search, the company also made changes. As the Knowledge Graph results are large in size, to optimize it for mobile devices, Google divided that entire graph into multiple smaller graphs that appear to be a single entity.  

This was a significant addition to the mobile version and as the voice search trend is on the verge of growth, mobile-based Graphs are helping the bots to fetch voice results. 

Making changes to Google Knowledge Graph

If you feel that the graphs are showing irrelevant or outdated information, you can suggest the needful changes to Google. Below the graph results, you will find the option for feedback on the right bottom side. When you click on that, you will get the option to first pick a section that needs correction. 

Once you click on that section, you will then need to select what’s wrong what the result and add a comment to it. After you fill in your answer, you can submit it and the team members will review how the information displayed is outdated or not-useful. If the graph is related to the public interest, then you can expect a faster rectification from the search engine’s team. 

On the other hand, if a person or a company has claimed the panel, then they can directly contact Google’s team to ask for the needful changes. There are high chances that Google will verify and update information as soon as possible. This is because Google highly stresses improving the overall browsing experience of the users.  

Also, Read: How To Do Competitive Analysis

What you need to do for arriving at Knowledge Graph

This is a tricky question as Google has not shared any kind of guidelines for this unlike the other concepts like E-A-T. However, several SEO executives have given their tips and recommendations for arriving on this golden spot. Below are some factors that you need to keep in mind while optimizing your website.

Structured data

Organized information is highly vital for both users and bots. The first thing you need to do is implement structured data on your site as it will help the bots to read and index information faster. If you are using CMS like WordPress, then you will find a lot of plugins to get this done. 

Have a Google My Business profile

Having a GMB profile is instrumental especially when you are into a local business domain. GMB not just improves business credibility on the Internet but also brings more customers without spending on marketing.  

Try to get listed on Wikipedia or Wikidata.org

As most of the information is fetched from the Wikipedia database, it would be best to get yourself or your brand listed on Wikipedia or Wikidata.org platforms. If you are already a big and recognized brand, then it won’t be that tricky to get listed on these platforms. 

Creating social media profiles

Social signals are vital as it showcases higher brand trust on the Internet and Google also considers these signals into their ranking factors. Ensure you are also actively using these platforms as users will get more content or update from you. 

Getting listed on popular listing sites

Listing websites are highly valuable to users as they get almost every piece of information in a single place. However, make sure you are listing your brand on a popular listing that already has a substantial user base.   

Having high authority backlinks

Some SEO experts believe that a strong backlink profile also plays a significant role in improving your odds of making it into the Knowledge Graph.

Fixing all technical issues

The last but important tip here is to fix all the site’s technical issues which include the site’s loading speed, mixed content issues, bounce rate, and more. 

Relation Between Google Knowledge Graph and SEO

Yes, having a Google Knowledge Graph for yourself or your brand does help you in getting more traffic and improving the overall SEO. When you are listed on the panel, it becomes easier for Google to understand your site in a much better way. 

On the other hand, as the knowledge graph also has links to various other sources like social media links, important pages links, or books, it’s a free source of driving high organic traffic. So, if you manage to get a graph for your brand, it would be magnificent for your SEO services. 

Always follow the basic SEO guidelines while you create any content on your platform. This is because it becomes more comfortable for the bots to scan and index new information. Following best practices will help you get listed in rich snippets, or Google’s Carousel if not the knowledge panel. 

If your competitor is ranking in this special feature of Google, perform an in-depth competitive analysis to know how they have optimized their site.